Thales to upgrade metro fare collection system in Taipei

The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, which operates the concession for the metro network in Taipei, has chosen Thales’s latest fare collection solution, to be rolled out progressively throughout 2016 with no service disruptions. The upgrade covers the entire metro network including more than 1500 fare gates across 120 stations. Thales solution includes the replacement of contactless smartcard readers for all the existing fare gates and, and management in back-office of the keys necessary to protect the transactions. This project follows the initiative of Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications to respond to the need for wider interoperability. Public transport operators and smartcard issuers have been working on building a nationwide integrated fare-card system and Taipei will be the first step.